The United States Bureau of Labor has released its unemployment report for July, and it’s not good news for Georgia. The state has a preliminary unemployment rate of 7.8, second-to-last in the country (only leading Mississippi’s 8.0) and significantly above the national average of 6.2. The list includes the 50 states and the District of Columbia.
There is some good news, though: Georgia is one of the 30 states with “statistically significant” increases in employment over the past calendar year, with 70,200 more people employed in July 2014 than July 2013. The unemployment rate is also down from the 8.2 rate it saw at the end of 2013.
However, other states have improved significantly more. The 2013 year-end report showed Georgia in a tie with New Jersey and Tennessee at 41, meaning that the Peach State has since been leapfrogged by seven other states (nine including New Jersey and Tennessee).
North Dakota currently has the best unemployment rate in the country at 2.8, and it’s not even close: Nebraska and Utah tied for second with 3.6.
The Places with the Worst Employment Rates, July 2014
Mississippi, 8.0%
Georgia, 7.8%
Rhode Island, 7.7%
Nevada, 7.7%
Michigan, 7.7%
Kentucky, 7.4%
District of Columbia, 7.4%
California, 7.4%
Tennessee, 7.1%
Arizona, 7.0%
Alabama, 7.0%
